Tenebris Mountain
by Flygon Master
Summary: The Praestrictus Mountain Range; to Vita it was a place of failure, but could it also be a place where friendships are forged and bonds stronger than death are made? Pairing: Nanoha X Vita *One-Shot*


**Author's Notes: Not a lot of information is given on what happened to Nanoha when she and Vita went on their mission to that unnamed mountain, so taking a little artistic liberty I decided to write what I thought could have happened. Also just in case you were wondering all the mountain names are actually regular words translated from the Latin dialect.**

**There are not many Nanoha X Vita FanFiction stories out there, so if you are a fan of the pair and have found your way to my story I do hope you will review! Maybe once I rewatch the Anime I'll make another story or two, but until then I hope you enjoy this one as much as I enjoyed writing it!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha or any merchandise related to it. However, I do own this story yay for me! Clap, Clap, Clap!**

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**(Four Years Ago: Summit of Tenebris Mountain)**

"Are you going to be alright Nanoha?" Vita asked in a harsh tone of voice as she quickly surveyed the surrounding area from their vantage point behind what used to be a giant stone wall of some sort. She and Nanoha Takamachi had been assigned to bring down a large scale research facility on top of the Praestrictus Mountain range that had been infusing the wildlife with bionic upgrades.

The bionic upgrades not only made the creatures much more feral and blood thirsty, but it also took away their organic life making them a new breed of cyborg/robot. From what Vita could see they didn't even have their own hearts anymore and while she did pity the poor beasts for their misfortune; Vita knew they had to all be destroyed.

In addition to the cyborg-beasts, there were a number of rather large robots and it was obvious they were still in their testing phase. The scientists had been pitting them against each other and collecting the data from their battles to no doubt make them both stronger and more versatile.

Taking out the entire facility and everything in it would be no problem for the Iron Hammer Knight, that wasn't why Vita was hiding, the real problem was Nanoha.

The brunette didn't show any real signs of apathy towards killing the beasts, but now she was shakily slightly next to her orange haired comrade; Vita could only assume that she was afraid to fight what were once living things with a heart and a soul and she didn't have any real intention of making her...

Nanoha knew that Vita was still a little unpolished, rough around the edges if you will, when it came to dealing with others and that her ill-tempered way of speech was just who this girl was; which is why Nanoha didn't hold it against her when Vita had asked if she was okay in the way she did.

In fact Nanoha felt a tremendous amount of joy that Vita even noticed that she was seemingly unfit for a battle; they had just recently become 'friends' so Nanoha didn't expect Vita to be all caring to her like she was with Hayate just yet, but this was a major step up in their relationship.

Even though they were getting along better that still didn't mean that Nanoha could tell the Iron Hammer Knight that she was slowly losing her magic… The two had been rivals ever since the start of the 'Book of Darkness' case and their rivalry carried over even though they were both on the same team now; if Vita found out that she was losing control of her magic, well Nanoha didn't want to think about it.

"I'm fine Vita-chan, let's go!" Nanoha said with a forced smile as she tried to stand to her feet, but a wave of unexpected pain hit her and it felt like her ankles had just shattered inside her skin. It was later discovered that her body had started to decay on the inside six months prior due to her overuse of magic with little to no training for it.

Vita noticed the face Nanoha made and misinterpreted it for fear: "I don't need you getting in my way, stay here unless I need your help." The orange haired girl stated with a small blush as she quickly turned her face away from the all knowing smile the White Devil had adorning her lips.

Vita had actually grown to like Nanoha quite a bit, but would never admit that out loud. The way that girl wormed into your heart and set up camp was something Vita had not been expecting and she could do little to stop her affection for the girl from growing.

And Nanoha seemed to know that as well…

"Fine I'll let Vita-chan have all the fun!" Nanoha said with a genuine smile; her friend's heartfelt attempt to keep her safe and happy really touched Nanoha's heart in a way it hadn't been touched for a long time.

Vita huffed out something that Nanoha couldn't hear before the Iron Hammer Knight blasted into the middle of the courtyard to take on everything in battle at once. Nanoha felt relieved that Vita had offered what she did, because she didn't know if she had the strength in her to get up and fight; maybe she should get a checkup when they got back?

Nanoha didn't notice the cloaked robot sneaking up behind her due to her magical perception being almost completely eroded and didn't even have a chance to dodge its strike…

A choked scream ripped through her throat as one massively large claw ripped through her abdomen with little effort; Nanoha felt like every bit of magic in her body exploded on the impact and as she fell towards the ground she could barely make out her name being yelled, but her head was too fuzzy to respond…

Vita heard the scream ringing in her ears; going faster than Fate's record time she had destroyed the machine and was at Nanoha's side, but she was too late the damage had been done. One of those cyborg creatures thought right then was as good a time to attack as any… It was very wrong…

It exploded… Blood sprayed over everything in the nearby vicinity… Vita drove her hammer down on the things head so hard that there was absolutely nothing left of it when she hefted the hammer back onto her shoulder…

Vita turned back around to face Nanoha once again and quickly dropped to her knees; Vita wasted no time in removing the torn, bloody clothing and protective gear from Nanoha's chest. The small Cloud Knight threw her hands in front of her and over Nanoha's gouged chest, forcefully drawing out her own linker core.

"Give her 98 percent of everything I have left!" Vita said shakily as tears started to drip down her chin, despite how hard she tried to control them.

"Magical Infusion: 85 percent." Graf Eisen said as Vita started to pump her own linker core's energy straight into Nanoha's linker core in a last stich effort to save her life.

"I said 98 percent damn it! 2 percent will be enough to get us back to base!" Vita screamed with tears now running down her face in full torrent as she shakily held her hands over Nanoha's almost lifeless body easing the magical transfer; Vita was mentally beating herself for letting this happen, so any control over her tears she might have had vanished in a swirl of anguish and self-loathing.

Vita couldn't bare the sight of Nanoha lying there, motionless, as a pool of blood formed around her…

"Time needed to add linker core, please defend." Graf Eisen said quickly as more of those horrible beasts and robots started to crowd around the two girl's; Vita had 15 percent of her magical power left as she stood and summoned Graf Eisen into full Hammer form.

It was going to take around five minutes to get Nanoha into a state where she could be transported and that was all the time Vita needed; a truly evil smile worked its way onto her face, her pupils shrinking back to where her eyes looked lifeless as she surveyed her prey…

She didn't care anymore about putting the creatures down gently so they felt as little pain as possible, now all she wanted to do was make them suffer like Nanoha had and make them suffer she did. Not one of those creatures escaped her wrath; neither did any of the immoral scientists, nor any of their robots or equipment…

Crimson blood stained the pure white snow…and Vita liked it…

After Nanoha was in a stable condition and able to be moved Vita wasted no time in getting her back to the base and back to Shamal. Vita will never forget the look of pure horror on her friend's faces as she suddenly transported into the room clothes ripped and covered in blood; holding a barely living Nanoha in her arms.

Vita reluctantly handed over Nanoha to Shamal and her assistants as she watched them quickly dart into the operating room. The other Wolkenritter as well as Hayate tried to inspect her for injuries, but she simply brushed off their hands and walked to the nearest wall, leaned against it, and stared at the ER room door; that behind it held her newest friend and her greatest failure.

The small girl didn't change out of her ripped up combat attire nor did she put Graf Eisen away, she simply stood there at the back of the room and watched the door. Her magical power had almost run dry by this point and she struggled to fight off the weary feeling of sleep that tried to cloud her eyes.

Hayate was worried sick about both of them, but there wasn't anything she could do for Nanoha right now so she focused all her attention on her littlest knight. The short haired girl could easily see in Vita's eyes that she was fatigued and struggling to stay conscious, but there was something else much deeper in those Azure eyes and after glancing at Signum for support and getting a nod she decided to ask what is was.

"Vita are you sure you're okay? I can get another doctor to come check you out and then we can go get something to eat?" Hayate asked softly as she placed a caring hand on Vita's shoulder only to have it shrugged away like before.

"I have failed; I simply want to know the extent of that failure." Vita said simply, if not cryptically, her eyes never leaving the door.

There was so much more that Hayate wanted to ask, but she knew that at this point it would be useless to even try; Vita had always been hot headed and stubborn. The group then waited in silence, nothing but the occasional muffled sound from the other room could be heard.

Everyone but Vita jumped when Chrono suddenly walked into the room; he took a minute to ask how Nanoha was doing before explaining what had happened on the mountain. The salvage crew was sent out quickly after hearing Nanoha was injured and after an hour of searching they found a hidden security camera mounted into the side of a cliff that Vita had missed; it caught the whole tribulation on tape.

The start of the fight, Nanoha getting attacked, Vita's frantic attempt to save her even at the risk of her own life; for a less experienced mage taking energy directly from your linker core and putting it into someone else's almost always proved fatal…

Chrono said that he had already destroyed the tape and that Vita would always be remembered as a hero, instead of… Well the tape did catch everything including her going into a berserker rage and slaughtering everything in sight…

Vita hated the sound of it… Hero, it left a bitter taste in her mouth.

Before Chrono could continue or Hayate could say anything to Vita about what had happened, the doors suddenly swung open to show Shamal covered in sweat and a little blood, but with a bright smile on her face.

"We managed to save her! Thanks to you Vita-chan, if you hadn't given her most of your Linker Core's power and gotten her here when you did she wouldn't have made it; you saved her!" Shamal said joyfully and everyone in the room seemed to let out a huge sigh in relief, everyone except Vita.

"So she will survive?" Vita asked in a cold almost lifeless tone devoid of any emotions.

"Yes she will… Do you need me to check you out too Vita-chan?" Shamal asked slowly; she was suddenly very afraid for her little friend and fellow knight, never once had Vita ever sounded like that in all the years they have been together and it scared her and the others to no end.

"It won't be necessary… I just…" It had become too much for Vita; now that she was sure Nanoha was going to be okay her last bit of resolve to stay conscious left her and after collapsing onto the floor she slipped into unconsciousness with the brunette's soft smile playing through her mind.

Vita awoke with a jump, a natural reaction for her if she had gone to sleep by any means other than what she considered normal, and let out a pained yelp as she felt every muscle in her body suddenly erupt in flames.

"Please Vita-chan don't move too much; you'll hurt yourself!" Shamal scolded lightly as she helped the smaller knight lie back down on the bed and get comfy, stopping her insides from writhing in pain.

"What happened to me Shamal…?" Vita asked softly as she tried to move her arm slightly, but the pain was overbearing and stopped her cold.

"You used up almost all of your linker core that's what, it will take a while for it to regrow and spread throughout your body; since we absolutely have to have our magic to live, you will be stuck in that bed for a few weeks until you get better…" Shamal's explanation and Vita's complaints were cut short by the two girls who suddenly came into the room unannounced.

"Vita-chan you're awake!" Nanoha cheered weakly as Fate helped her wobble over to the chair beside the little knight's bed.

"You should be resting Nanoha…" Vita was silenced as she was brought into a gentle hug, even though the brunette was probably hurting far worse than she was; Nanoha still insisted on coming to see her…

"They said I might not ever be able to use my magic again… But I know their wrong… I will get stronger and better and I will protect you too Vita-chan… No matter what; I'll protect you…" Nanoha said as tears slowly poured from her eyes; slowly she lost consciousness and slipped into a peaceful sleep, the outing had obviously been too much for her.

Vita couldn't bear to separate herself form the other girl's arms so she just let herself slip into her dreams as well...

She knew Nanoha was good on her word.

She knew Nanoha was always going to be there for her.

She knew Nanoha would fly again.

What she didn't know… Was what this feeling of warmth was in her stomach, but she had plenty of time to find out…

_**~End~**_


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